Dodgers, Angels play on despite latest Bryant buzz

The crybaby apparently remains in tantrum mode.

So you can understand why the most pressing issue confronting the Dodgers and Angels before Saturday’s game had to be the news that the Kobester had told Jerry Buss he still wants out of town.

I asked Dodgers Manager Grady Little whether he was concerned, and he said, “I’d have to be a little concerned if Frank McCourt ever wanted to meet with one of my players in Spain. That’s when I’d start to get worried.”

No word yet from Phil Jackson.

(Why was the Kobester in Spain? Well, the bulls run there and he obviously is just trying to get himself ready for his next team.)

I asked Angels Manager Mike Scioscia whether he was concerned about Bryant’s situation, and he said, “Our young center fielder in Cedar Rapids, Bradley Coon, is ... “ and that’s when Times reporter Bill Shaikin interrupted to inform Scioscia that Coon is now playing for Rancho Cucamonga.

So Scioscia not only acted as if he had never heard of Bryant, but also apparently has no idea where his minor league players are performing these days.

“What are you talking about?” Scioscia said, and I just took for granted that he knew -- after all, what could be more important these days than what Bryant wants?

I showed Scioscia the headline across the top of The Times’ Saturday Sports section: “Source: Bryant tells Buss that he wants out.”

“The Times?” Scioscia said. “When I see it in the Acorn out in Thousand Oaks then I’ll believe it.”

The Riverside Press-Enterprise reported the same news about Bryant, citing two league sources, and ESPN.com quoted the Kobester’s man servant and agent, Rob Pelinka, as saying, “Kobe’s position remains unchanged. Kobe would like to be moved.” No way Scioscia takes issue with the Riverside Press-Enterprise.

So might the future of Bryant become a distraction to the Dodgers and Angels? You just know there is no way Vic the Brick is going to talk about the Dodgers or Angels until there’s some tranquillity in the Kobester’s life.

“There have been a lot of times when a great player leaves a certain place and the sport continues on,” said Little, and that’s almost profound.

“That’s good,” said Scioscia when advised how well-spoken some managers can be when they give it a try. “Put my name on that, too.”

THIS WHOLE thing gets sillier and sillier. The Times, the Riverside newspaper and ESPN are all reporting that Bryant told Buss he still wants out and the team’s PR guy, John Black, is quoted saying, “What they talked about and what went on between Kobe and Dr. Buss is private and will remain between the two of them.”

I wonder if he checked first with each of the blubbering Busses to see if they were done blabbering?

We’ve had one Buss criticizing Jackson on a radio show, another Buss criticizing her brother for criticizing her boyfriend, and another Buss telling everyone on his MySpace page that when he gets back from China he’s going to have everyone over to the house for “Wii and a huge slumber party.”

Remember, the 50-year-old Johnny Buss tells everyone on the same page that included his goodbye message to the Kobester, “don’t forget your pajamas.”

Yeah, have another drink, daddy.

As much as the Busses don’t have their act together, though, the Kobester is coming off even more screwy.

He doesn’t think the Lakers are competitive enough to win a title, doesn’t think they will do what he wants to be competitive, and so he wants to take his ball and go elsewhere -- the team that trades for him giving up everything to get him and the Kobester playing once again for a team that has no chance of winning a title.

The Kobester’s demand to be traded makes no basketball sense, and is more about the tantrum that he’s carrying on than what is best for everyone down the line. And so much for his attempt to mend his tattered image, although I think he’d make a great spokesman for Gerber.

As for the Lakers, it makes no sense to trade the Kobester. They have him under contract for the next two seasons whether he likes it or not, and he wouldn’t be the first unhappy employee forced to grin and take the $19 million he gets paid to shoot a basketball every chance he gets.

The Lakers can charge whatever they want for tickets and fill up Staples as long as they have him in uniform. Get rid of him -- and it’d undoubtedly have to be to a team in the East, and how crummy are those players? -- and no matter who they acquire, they risk the public rejecting the package of players they get.

So there’s just no way the Kobester is going anywhere, leaving the baby to cry all he wants -- I guess, until he grows up.

WHO WILL turn out to be the worst off-season acquisition? Jason Schmidt, Little Leaguer Juan Pierre or Shea Hillenbrand?

Hillenbrand, a forgettable .246 hitter so far, came the cheapest, but for the return on big money spent, it’s a tough call between Schmidt, who hurts the Dodgers once every five days, or Pierre, who has shown the capability to hurt the Dodgers up the middle every day.

THE DODGERS have scored two runs in two games with 11 hits since dismissing Eddie Murray as hitting coach, so I asked Little after the game whether Bill Mueller had started working with the guys yet.

“It’s not going to take a day or two,” Little said. “It’ll be a week or so.”

I said I’d be back in a week to check, and he said, “Then make it another week or so before you do that.”

DODGERS CLOSER Takashi Saito has now taken to wearing a samurai outfit -- sword included -- when he meets with the media. I’ve got no problem with that, just so long as it doesn’t catch on, and someone like Gary Matthews, a.k.a. Mr. HGH, doesn’t start packing when it comes time to be interviewed.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.